Floras Lake, sure, but that's, what ... 6+ hours from the Gorge? I don't mind driving and staying for a few days, but I'd sure like to stay closer.

Does anyone know of anything closer, especially in eastern WA/OR? It doesn't have to be big ... even a pond that warms up long before the river would do as long as the water isn't garbage.

Yes, I could just put on a dry suit and mittens and hood and mukluks, but can you imagine crawling on and off the board a thousand times wearing all that crap? If my gym pool didn't have lane dividers I'd do that at 4:00 AM. The Boardman power plant lake would be great, but they won't let anyone near it.

Try the southern most aspect of the Puget Sound in Olympia.
There is a nice launch at Rotary point and at least one individual with rental boards.
I windsurf in the sound year round (mostly in the winter) and the water temp is usually around 50 degrees or so.

The ocean bays can get warm when the sun warms up the sand or mud at low tide. For SUP you won't need gloves or a drysuit but booties are nice. If I stay near shore, I'm pretty confident and never really dunk. The most I get wet are my legs and I get pretty warm from paddling. I like Nehalem and fort Stevens, but Puget Sound is good, Hood Canal can get extra warm too.

"LEARN SUP" ???????
Who?, what size person, what size board?
My g/f and I both weigh around 150. Add some for 4/3 wetsuit. We use 126 liter SUP boards.
I started on a Kinetic296Race, 69 wide and 9'6" long. Easy, never fell or needed to get on my knees. That's about 140 liters.
She just bought the JPYoungGun 8'10" x 78.
We've both been using a Hypersonic122 for SUP, because it's such a DOG windsurfer it's useless for windsurfing.
My Seatrend 102 planes up sooner and goes MUCH MUCH faster than that IanFox sponsored DOG Hypersonic.

"LEARN SUP" ???????
Who?, what size person, what size board?
My g/f and I both weigh around 150. Add some for 4/3 wetsuit. We use 126 liter SUP boards.
I started on a Kinetic296Race, 69 wide and 9'6" long. Easy, never fell or needed to get on my knees. That's about 140 liters.
She just bought the JPYoungGun 8'10" x 78.
We've both been using a Hypersonic122 for SUP, because it's such a DOG windsurfer it's useless for windsurfing.
My Seatrend 102 planes up sooner and goes MUCH MUCH faster than that IanFox sponsored DOG Hypersonic.

His opening comments imply that the learning curve is so short there's no reason to go out of the way before the river warms up. He hasn't seen me try to walk across a gym floor in a dark room, or while watching a moving object, or while carrying anything distracting my vision. Nor has he seen me try to stand on one leg with my eyes closed, or even just try to stand still on a wobble/balance board in otherwise perfect conditions. None of those were possible before the knee injury, and along with the ACL went numerous proprioceptors. I would not be surprised to find SUPing impossible for me, which is an important factor in my emphasis on the WSing qualities of this new board.

I don't know WTH his last comment related to; that's what cherry picking is for.

My wife & I started SUPing about 6 months ago, and it is ridiculously easy to learn, and easy to do (on dead flat harbor water), if you have the right board. I've fallen in once in 6 months, going twice a week. If you have smooth water and a big enough board you'll be fine. By big enough I mean 32 wide & 150+ liters. Only worn a wetsuit once in flat water, for 20 minutes, had to peel it.

I would try Potholes Reservoir, or the little lakes to the SE of Potholes, Corral Lake and Blythe Lake.

Have fun.

Good idea. I hadn't realized there were so many lakes and ponds up that direction, many within an hour's drive. The obvious ones visible from the Spokane highway were frozen over last week, but the little ones will thaw and warm much more quickly than the Columbia when the time comes.

Fortunately, fun isn't the objective yet, so I can't miss if I find a little lake without too many dead cattle floating in it. I just want to find out if my balance will even make this possible.

Have you considered sea kayaking? You can surf them too, though in those conditions you might consider windsurfing. You can also camp out of the same surf ready sea kayak, for several days to a week with minimal effort. Good luck.

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